The vast majority of state-of-the-art cellular telephones include at least one display screen. Most state-of-the-art cellular telephones also include a plurality of applications such as, for example, games, appointment book applications, address books, call history logs, cameras, photo galleries, and the like. Typically, the display screen is used to access and operate these applications. The display screen also typically displays information when a conventional cellular telephone is used to make or receive a telephone call, such as the dialed or incoming telephone number, the connection status, the length of the call, etc.
When a conventional cellular telephone is in a “standby mode”, its display screen will typically either be blank or will display a “standby screen.” Herein, the term “standby mode” refers to a mode of the cellular telephone where the cellular telephone does not have an active ongoing telephone call connection and where a user of the cellular telephone is not actively running other applications that require user input such as games, calendar applications, address book applications, message retrieval, photo viewing and the like. The term “standby screen” refers to the information that is displayed on the display screen of the cellular telephone while the telephone is in the standby mode. While the information provided on the standby screen of a conventional cellular telephone may differ depending upon the manufacturer/model of the telephone and/or the cellular service provider, typically the information displayed includes the time of day, an icon indicating the signal strength of a signal received from a cellular base station, an icon indicating the remaining battery power, and perhaps the name of the cellular service provider. The standby screen may also include, for example, menu access points, other indicia regarding the options currently set on the cellular telephone (e.g., volume level, mute function, etc.) and/or additional information regarding the services that are currently available from the cellular service provider (e.g., current availability of data transmission and reception services). A user of the cellular telephone may also often adjust the background picture provided on the standby screen by selecting from a variety of options or by selecting a photograph that replaces a pre-set background picture or pattern.
FIG. 1A depicts a standby screen 20 that may be displayed on a display screen 15 of an exemplary conventional cellular telephone 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the standby screen 20 of cellular telephone 10 may include a signal strength indicator 30, a remaining battery power indicator 32, a GPRS availability indicator 34, the name 36 of the cellular service provider that operates the cellular base station to which the cellular telephone is currently assigned, the date 38 and the current time 40. Several labels 44 may also be provided that indicate menus that can be opened by pressing corresponding soft keys that are located under respective of the labels 44 on a keypad of cellular telephone 10.
When an unread message (e.g., voice mail, e-mail, text message, etc.) is available and/or a call has been received that the user did not answer, the standby screen 20 may be updated to include an icon or message window notifying the user of the availability of the message or the telephone number of the missed call. FIG. 1B shows such an updated standby screen 20 that includes an unread message indicator 46 and a window 48 with a message notifying the user that a message has been received.